WINTHROP — A local man has been charged after threatening to kill his roommates with a machete during a dispute over money, police said.

Nicholas Rolling, 20, was arrested after police entered a house through an unlocked door and took him into custody at gunpoint. He was charged with terrorizing with a dangerous weapon and criminal restraint with a dangerous weapon.

His roommates have also been charged. 

Winthrop Police Chief Joseph Young said Rolling was arrested Thursday after police got a 911 call around 5 a.m. from 24 Tappan Farm Road, where Rolling was staying. The caller, Kyle E. Feeney, 25, who also was staying at the house, said he and another person were being held hostage by a man with a machete, Young said.

Feeney and the homeowner, Daniel F. St. Hilaire, 46, were both arrested Friday afternoon. Feeney was charged with unlawful possession of a scheduled drug and St. Hilaire was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. 

Young did not know how well the men knew each other or how long they have lived together.

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Feeney and St. Hilaire were sleeping when Rolling woke them up around 4 a.m. and accused them of stealing $500, Young said. 

Rolling, who reportedly hit St. Hilaire with his hand a few times during the confrontation, said he would kill the men with the machete he was carrying if they did not return the money, Young said. The machete belonged to St. Hilaire, Young said.

“At one point, Rolling swung at Feeney with the machete as he (Feeney) was running up the stairs in an attempt to flee from him,” Young said. 

Rolling reportedly threatened to kill St. Hilaire if Feeney did not come back downstairs, Young said.

“The threats took place over a period of approximately an hour before Feeney was able to make the 911 call from his cellphone,” Young said.

Police Officer Paul Ferland, who responded to that 911 call, said in an affidavit filed in Augusta District Court that he peered into the home through windows in the kitchen window and living room and saw no movement inside. 

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“We attempted to make contact with (Feeney) by cellphone but the call went straight to voicemail,” Ferland wrote. 

Ferland, now joined by Young and Detective Peter Struck, went back to the house to look in a window in the front door. Ferland wrote that they saw a man “sitting on a couch holding what appeared to be a baseball bat between his legs.” The man also was holding a cellphone, Ferland wrote, and another man was sitting on another couch about eight feet away. 

Guns raised, police entered the house through an unlocked kitchen door. Young said Rolling was arrested at gunpoint because they knew he was armed. 

He wrote that he went to where the man with the bat was sitting “and secured the bat,” Ferland wrote. “I then observed that there was a machete on the couch next to him. The handle of the machete was under his left hand and wedged under his left leg.”

Rolling was arrested without incident. 

St. Hilaire suffered minor injuries when Rolling hit him, Young said, but he did not require medical attention at a hospital. St. Hilaire decided not to pursue assault charges, Young said.

Rolling, who was being held Friday at the Kennebec County jail in lieu of $10,000 cash, told police he was trying to recover the money he believed Feeney and St. Hilaire stole from him.

“The house was unlocked,” Young said. “Anybody could have walked in and taken the money.” 

Craig Crosby — 621-5642
ccrosby@centralmaine.com


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